India’s opposition parties and CJP take separate paths towards shared goal
Opposition Groups Press for Election Chief’s Exit While Keeping Separate Campaigns
Bdbusinessdaily.com – India’s opposition politics has seen a series of demonstrations in Delhi over the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, but the movements have unfolded through separate platforms rather than a unified campaign. The Congress and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) are pursuing the same central demand while maintaining visible distance from one another.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attempted to address suggestions of division after hosting a high tea gathering at his New Delhi residence on Tuesday, 13 October. He insisted that the various actions should be understood as part of one wider democratic struggle.
“We are all standing together. There are no parallel protests. There is one single protest. The mission is to restore democracy in India,” Rahul Gandhi said.
His remarks came after a busy week in the capital, during which opposition parties organised several high-profile actions. Gandhi led opposition lawmakers in a march towards the Election Commission headquarters. A group of MPs later met President Droupadi Murmu, while another march proceeded towards the Supreme Court. These initiatives took place in the week following 6 October.
On 10 October, the CJP planned its own march to Jantar Mantar, prompting a major security deployment across central Delhi. The day ended with the detention of several prominent figures, including CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Left representatives. Gandhi was in Chennai at the time.
A shared demand, separate public stages
The absence of a common stage has become one of the defining features of the protests. Congress and CJP leaders have not jointly addressed supporters, and neither side has formally joined the other’s demonstrations. This has encouraged questions over whether the two groups can translate a common grievance into a coordinated political campaign.
The pattern is not new. During the controversy surrounding alleged NEET examination paper leaks in June and July, Congress and CJP also ran independent programmes. CJP staged a march to Parliament that resulted in clashes with security personnel. Congress, meanwhile, held a separate sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence.
That Congress protest was led by Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The party sought the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a parliamentary debate on paper leaks and wider education reform, and an apology to students over police action.
Congress had already been highlighting concerns about examination irregularities before CJP’s Parliament march. Rahul Gandhi met students in Kota and Dehradun, and he and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited students receiving treatment at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after the police action.
The current dispute over Gyanesh Kumar has revived the same strategic divide. Within Congress, there has been a view that the party should retain its own political identity when challenging the Modi government, even when other groups are protesting on a similar issue. That calculation appears to explain why Congress has been reluctant to simply merge its activities with CJP-led mobilisation.
Distrust shaped by earlier movements
Relations between Congress and CJP have been cautious since CJP emerged as a social-media force in mid-May. The situation has also drawn comparisons with the India Against Corruption movement of 2011, when Gandhian activist Anna Hazare led an anti-corruption campaign against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government under Manmohan Singh.
At that time, the BJP supported Hazare’s movement, while Congress later accused the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of using the agitation to weaken the government. The political consequences were long-lasting. The movement helped create the space from which Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party emerged.
AAP subsequently came to power in Delhi and governed the national capital for more than a decade. Its rise altered opposition competition in northern India, particularly because Congress and AAP have since competed directly for influence in Delhi and Punjab, where Kejriwal’s party is in power.
AAP has largely kept its own line of protest against the Modi government. Along with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress’s estranged southern ally, it has been notably absent from INDIA bloc protests over the Special Intensive Revision and previous concerns about examination irregularities. Congress is also aware that several CJP figures have roots in AAP, adding another layer of political caution.
Signs of possible engagement
Despite the distance, there have been hints that communication may be improving. Rahul Gandhi recently wrote on X about reclaiming Jantar Mantar as a venue for public protest. Dipke responded quickly, thanking him for raising concerns about what he called the “illegal arrest” of Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das.
The exchange does not erase the competing interests that separate Congress, CJP and AAP. Yet it shows that public solidarity can emerge around questions of protest rights and democratic space, even when organisations do not coordinate their events.
For the opposition, the larger challenge is whether separate campaigns can generate enough sustained pressure to influence national debate. Independent mobilisation allows each group to preserve its identity, leadership and support base. At the same time, fragmented action can make it harder to present a single, easily understood political alternative.
As protests continue around the demand for Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, the balance between unity and autonomy will remain central. Congress appears determined to participate forcefully without giving up its separate political ground, while CJP and other opposition forces continue to pursue their own methods of mobilisation.
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